I’ve just learned that P&O’s Aurora seems to have developed problems during her world cruise. A post on a forum includes this email to an about-to-embark passenger, advising them of a changed itinerary as a result of the problem:

I am writing to you on behalf of your travel agent with some important news regarding your upcoming cruise on board Aurora’s 2013 World Cruise R301, departing from Auckland on Sunday 17th February 2013.While carrying out her World Cruise, Aurora has developed an unexpected fault with her port propeller shaft.

There are absolutely no safety implications arising as a result of this fault, but it does have an impact on her maximum speed and repairs are required. To enable repairs to take place, Aurora will stay in Auckland for an extra day and will now depart on Monday 18th February. Embarkation for your cruise will still take place on Sunday, 17th February as planned.

As a result of the extended stay in Auckland, the half day call to Napier and full day call to Wellington have unfortunately been cancelled. As a replacement, on departure from Auckland, Aurora will now sail directly to New Zealand’s Idyllic Bay of Islands for a full day call, arriving in the morning of 19th February. The revised itinerary is displayed in full below.

[revised itinerary details snipped]

A full shore excursion program for the Bay of Islands and the additional day in Auckland will be available on board.

Napier and Wellington shore excursions will be automatically refunded. We are very sorry for the unavoidable changes that we have had to make to your cruise itinerary.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact your Travel Agent.We look forward to welcoming you on board soon.

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2 Responses to “Prop shaft problems for Aurora during world cruise”

P & O ships don’t have a good history of ship propellers. Last year on a world cruise on the Oriana we had propeller trouble and there were plenty of complaints made. Now the Ventura has propeller trouble and limping home. Is this a good sign for my Meditteranean Cruise in September, should I cancel it now?

I wouldn’t think it’s a problem. All ships can have propulsion problems occasionally. I’d be more wary about ships with pods – repairing them is much more of an issue that repairing an conventional shaft-driven system.